Throughout most businesses and industries the same questions seem to surface when it comes to successful growth.

Throughout most businesses and industries the same questions seem to surface when it comes to successful growth.

How often have you heard that someone is having trouble starting their
business, or struggling to take it to the next level or even closing
their business because of what seems to be a number of common and
evident problems. Most of these problems, more than likely, could have
been alleviated if only the entrepreneur or management team would have
taken the time to view their situation realistically before acting.

Our emotions have a tendency to obscure the obvious. We think we can
build a successful business through tenacity and desire, fortitude and
sweat. We may see our dreams through blinders or those famous
rose-colored glasses. Well that may be true to a point but there are
other less emotional issues that have to be taken into consideration
before, during and after we start our enterprises.

The following are twenty questions to ask yourself when it comes to your business, its growth and success.

1. Are you undercapitalized?
Check, or do, your company budget and projections now! Be realistic,
even conservative or you will run the risk of running out of operating
capital before your dream has run its course. You either have the
money, have the means to get the money, or you shouldn't be in
business. Buying your self a job rather than securing a career and a
solid investment is all too common. The entrepreneur who struggles to
make ends meet year after year can attest to that. Don't spend all your
money on fancy offices, stores and surroundings only to find that
there's no money left to operate. You're better off having the money to
get things done rather than being done because you misspent what you
had and then found yourself under funded.
2. Do you have written short and long-term goals?
Both business and personal goals are very important. They should
intertwine. Take the time to write out your personal and business goals
by month, ninety-days, six month, one year, five years and so on. If
you don't have a destination and a map, it's tough to get there. We
hear the call for goal setting so often that it almost becomes trite.
However it works. Most successful businesses and individuals are very
succinct in where, how, and when they want to get to their goals. The
best way to keep a record of your progress is by writing your
objectives down.

3. Do you know your strengths and weaknesses?
Ask your self, "Who am I?" Are you an entrepreneur, technician, manager
or artist? Do you know if you have a behavioral type that likes to get
the task completed no matter what or perhaps you're someone who enjoys
mixing with all kinds of people? Maybe you would rather keep things on
an even keel and be "steady as she goes" or you're one of those detail
people who likes to make sure every thing is perfect. Do you know why
you do things? What moves you into action, is it the quest for a nice
return on your investment, fame, the need to help people, the desire to
make things more beautiful? Maybe you're looking for power and
advancement or on a quest for truth and knowledge. All these factors
enter into your strengths and weaknesses. For instance, if you're a
detail person, who wants a nice investment return, and not a mixer,
don't put yourself into a sales role if you can help it. You would be
better off finding someone else to do that function while you go of to
figure out the books and inventory. Knowing your strengths and
weaknesses and admitting them can save you a lot of problems and make
you very successful.
4. Do you have a plan and method for expansion?
Know where you want to go, grow and how you're going to do it.
Understand the physical, geographical, competitive and staffing
parameters. Realize what got you to where you are and then be totally
realistic about your expansion. Do a complete analysis of your physical
(plant, stores, transportation vehicles, equipment, etc.) capabilities
and the pressure expansion will put on them. And can you afford it?
Look at the area you serve currently and the new areas you want to
serve. Will you be able to do it efficiently and effectively without
jeopardizing your existing business? Does the new market need what you
are selling and/or is it already served, even over served, by your
competition? Do you have the staff to substantiate expansion and/or
will you be able to get additional qualified people to support it? Or
will you be overtaxing your existing staff?
5. Do you have a strategic plan?
Understand your competition, your customer base, your niche, the
market, how you interface with the economy and what it means to your
growth. Do the research, find developmental help and make sure your
data is kept up to date. All the facts you need are out there. And much
of it is in your own files! Have a method for retrieving it easily. The
strategic plan your business needs is not a static document. On the
contrary it's a living document that has to be updated in a scheduled
manner. Make sure all those whose input is needed have time to review
it and make changes before the next strategic meeting. If you're
business is you and only you, have a "meeting with yourself" about your
strategic plan and take it seriously. Believe me your competition is.
6. Do you keep abreast of your industry, market and technology?
Read industry and business publications and websites to find out what's
new and happening in your industry. It better to know what's changing
BEFORE it hit's the market than to be left trying to catch up. Find out
as much as you can about E-commerce and the internet and how it is or
will be affecting your business. Go to trade shows. Make sure you join
the appropriate industry associations. Become an integral put of your
industry.
7. Do you manage your schedule well?
Not time management. You can't manage time it's going to pass no matter
what you do. You can only manage your schedule. Do you know how to
prioritize to maximize your schedule? Can you realistically look at the
tasks at hand and categorize them into urgent, important and routine
bins, both literally and figuratively. Do you keep a daily planner with
you at all times during your business day? Do you make sure that you
leave enough time between meetings? Are you cognizant of the geographic
distances between sales calls or meetings? Are you aware of your peak
performance times of the day and schedule accordingly? It's no joke
when people ask if you're a morning person or afternoon person. Some
people are better at one type of task in the morning and another type
later in the day. Do you leave yourself enough time to prepare for
meetings, sales calls, projects, etc.? Do you manage your schedule so
that you have time to relax? Poor schedule management can quickly lead
to burnout.
8. Are you able to delegate?
It's the only way to really grow. It enables you to work on your
business as opposed to in your business. The person who can't delegate
will always be stuck in a dead end job, even if they own the company.
Thinking that you have to do everything will mean that you WILL do
everything. What good is that? No one should do it all. Remember the
strengths and weaknesses we discussed earlier? If you're doing
something that you're not proficient at because you can't delegate, who
gains? Not the business, not you and not the other people in the
company. Even if you are good at what you do, how are you going to
advance if you can't teach those around you so that you can move up the
latter.

You should periodically review your goals and objectives so that you
clearly understand how delegating will enable you to reach your desired
outcome. Being able to delegate, with the understanding that those you
delegate to may make mistakes just like you did. Delegation has another
long-term benefit besides growth for both you and the person you
delegate to, and that is a more stress free environment and life.
9. Do you believe in yourself and your dream?
If you really, really don't believe that this is your dream get out.
Your dream gives you the intestinal fortitude to keep going. If you
view your business as a nightmare than wake up and walk away. Business
should be about dreams, hope, fun and ultimately contentment. Too often
business brings on stress, anxiety, resentment, and countless other
negative thoughts and feelings. Why put up with them? There's too much
opportunity for the good things in life out there in the business world
to let your self be taken down by the negatives. Look realistically at
what your business career is costing in the commodities that money
can't buy, health, contentment, happiness and love. If your life is
being robbed buy a career gone bad think seriously about your options
and do something about it.
10. Do you have one customer who is so large that if they leave so does your business?
This happens so much in business it's pathetic. Before you know it,
that one customer owns you. You meet their demands or you're finished.
Even if you do meet their demands you could be finished. Being a slave
to a customer so large that you must immediately react to their every
whim can be heavily detrimental to you and your business. Your business
will suffer because it won't be able to cater properly to those other
customers that could mean additional growth and less dependency.
Knowing how to balance your customer base is a hidden secret of most
really successful businesses. If one customer leaves it shouldn't mean
the end of your business, just an opportunity to find another customer
or two.

11. Is your ego in check?
There's nothing wrong with having an ego, even a strong one, but if it
gets in the way of rational thought it could mean disaster. You've got
to learn how and when to put your ego, both corporate and personal,
aside. When your business starts running on ego and not reality the
downtimes can be steeper and more crushing. It's not just about who you
are it's also about others, their needs, desires, interactions and
positions. When you start to think you're the best that's been put on
this earth you become open to an unrealistic view of yourself, and
that's all your competition needs! No one is bigger than the game of
business and very few have sympathy when the egomaniac gets his or her
due.

12. Is your business diametrically opposed to your basic philosophy?
This is somewhat different then believing in your dream. Your dream may
be to make a lot of money. For instance, you may want to build
windmills but you see that the money's in nuclear energy. You start a
nuclear energy company, however you feel deep down inside that
environmental heart of yours that you're doing something against your
inner self, that's a heart attack waiting to happen. Ultimately the
inner conflict catches up with you. It isn't worth it. Business is a
concept, a game that should be enjoyed. There are plenty of
opportunities that will satisfy your basic philosophies. Be creative,
something's in that brain of yours just waiting to come out and make
you money!

13. Do you have excellent customer service?
No matter how great your products or your prices are, if you can't give
your customers excellent service or even understand what excellent
service is you've got problems. Learn customer service skills and make
sure that your employees have them as well. Be sure that everyone in
your company has the proper training and reinforcement in all areas of
excellent customer service. Put a customer service manual together,
with the dos and don'ts of customer care. And when excellent customer
service is seen as part of your company's philosophy, don't stop keep
working at it. Excellent customer service keeps customers coming back
as much, if not more, than your products and your prices. Shop your
company or have friends and family shop your company for you! In other
words have them pretend that they're customers and make sure they tell
you how they were treated.

14. Do you make highest and best use of your time?
Your schedule may be under control but should you be doing what you're
doing? Should it be delegated or not done at all? Or are you the type
of individual who wastes untold hours, and consequently vast amounts of
money running around to unproductive meetings, chasing never will be
clients, working on low return projects and the like while the real
opportunities are pushed aside for "lack of enough space on your
schedule"? Are you a micro manager, someone who has to be involved in
every aspect of the business? Remember, a well-organized person can
still come up short on productivity. It all comes down to that age-old
saying, "work smarter not harder."

15. Do you have a marketing plan?
How are you going to get your message out there? Who are you getting it
to? When, and where is your message being disseminated? If they don't
know who you are, what you're selling and where you're at than how are
they going to buy from you? In today's vast array of media and
promotional vehicles, it's more important than ever to understand your
customer base and how to reach them. A solid marketing plan will give
you the direction you need to target your current and potential
customers. There are too many marketing venues, too many demographic
nuances and to many competitors to go about marketing your products and
services in a haphazard manner. Take the time to research who your
customers really are, where they come from, how they've heard about
you, what other types of customers you'd like to add, where they work
or reside, and what types of marketing will bring them in. It also may
help if you bring in a marketing professional. They can help guide you
through the maze and implement the process.

16. Do you network, build referral sources and develop your interpersonal skills?
"Getting out there" is a very important aspect in building a successful
business. Join organizations and groups. Become active in chambers of
commerce, professional and trade associations. Learn how to ask clients
and friends for referrals. Work on building a network of people who
know what you do and what type of clients/customers you work with.
Study different attitudes, behaviors and means of communication such as
the use of physiology, tonality and verbal interplay. Build the skills
necessary to interact effectively with different types of people.
Practice your speaking and presentation skills. Make sure you are also
a referral source for others. To get you have to give. Always carry
your business cards with you, always. You never know who you'll meet
and when. Carry yourself with confidence not arrogance. Be considerate
of others and they'll remember you.

17. Do you and your employees understand the selling process?
Selling is a process. Those who master that process become quite
successful. Start by learning how to understand who you are and who
your customers, clients or prospects are, not demographically,
behaviorally. Learn the why's, how's and what's of interactions. Make
definitive agreements with your customers. Realize that people buy
emotionally not intellectually Learn how to evoke those emotions.
Understand that people buy from people they like. Don't dump needless
information on prospects before you really know what the prospect wants
and needs. Ask pertinent questions and wait for the answers. Don't talk
too much! Know when it's not worth the trouble. Master the art of
listening. Understand that the more you find out what's needed the more
value you can add. And learn how to close efficiently and effectively?

18. Do you treat your employees with respect?
People, including your employees, do things by their agenda. If you
want to have a successful business one of the ways to accomplish that
is to find out what your employees want, then help them attain it
through the building of your business. Sit with each of them, if
possible, and spend time to get to know them. Everyone likes to know
that there is a genuine concern for their well-being. So many factors
go into how we act in the workplace, including what happens to us when
we're not there, that a better understanding of those factors can lead
to new dimensions in motivation and productivity. That does not mean
become intrusive. Give them the same respect that you desire. It comes
back.

19. Do you do something to relieve stress?
Is business worth getting sick over? Make sure you have a stress release outlet. And do it.

Stress relief means different things to different types of people. One
person's stress relief can be another person's stress! Look at yourself
realistically and understand what activities, or lack thereof, relieve
stress for you. Being involved in a competitive sport may be just what
you need to get rid of the stress and anxiety that's eating away at
you, or it may be sitting by the window and looking out at the sunset
while listening to some soothing music. The trick is to make sure you
leave time to do what you have to do to wash yourself of all that
tension, stress and anxiety. You wouldn't go for too long without
cleaning the "outside" of your body, why go too long without cleaning
your brain, which ultimately affects the entirety of your body.
20. Do you ask for advice?
None of us know it all. Things are moving so fast that it's hard for
one person to keep up with it. By asking others for feedback, advice
and insights and reacting non-judgmentally, you gain knowledge, new
perspectives and growth. Our world is too diverse to allow only one
viewpoint to direct our actions, even if it's our own. Open yourself up
to the thoughts of others and you will begin to build a more effective
and efficient business. You may be amazed how those around you will be
more than willing to give you new and perhaps exciting ideas. In
addition, once they understand that you're open to receiving
information they will be even more apt to pass on other creative
thoughts which leads to a feeling of appreciation and higher self
esteem. Everybody wins!

In Summary
Answering "Twenty Questions for Business Growth" is more than an
exercise, it can help your business grow and prosper. By putting the
answers in the perspective of your world it can give you insights that
may even lead to greater productivity, profits, fun and perhaps a more
relaxing environment and you.